Tag: #bwcadventuresisters

It took me a long time to realize just how important being of service is to me. I always liked to help others, and still do what I can, to “make myself useful” as my mom likes to say. Yet for a long while, I did not understand the overall effect acts of service had on my psyche. I have since learned it feels good to be helpful, appreciated and even needed. Although it can sometimes feel like work, the influence volunteering has on me is quite magical. I no longer think of it as effort but as an opportunity to bring joy into my life and those of others!

When I volunteer for something that touches my heart, I usually get to meet new people and make new friends at the same time. This helps me to get to know others in my community who are also doing their best to better the town we share. When I see so many others, taking time out of their lives, to be part of the effort required to make our community so great; it brings me hope for the future. It’s a wonderful reminder that there are lots of people like you and me who still care about our neighbors and do our best to spread joy.

When I give my time and join my neighbors who have the same intentions as I do; the results can be heartwarming and encouraging. I was recently elected to the board of our local Friends of the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge Committee. I am so excited about the opportunity to be part of this program. ‘The Friends’ have started a Young Naturalist program that provides the children, from our local Elementary schools, the opportunity to learn through outdoor field trips and provide educational information at the Refuge, that’s a lot of fun for them!

I love this program so much, because I believe that getting children excited about nature is how we ensure they care about the environment when they grow up. To have this opportunity to make a real tangible effort that affects the children and other folks that enjoy the Refuge is exciting! The environment and protecting it is one of my true passions in life. Children are the future and I truly hope they care about the environment as much as I do when they grow up!

I think it is extremely important to have natural spaces that are free for our communities to enjoy. I first started going to the Wildlife Refuge several years ago; because it was full of beautiful hiking trails where I love to take my dogs for a walk. The trails are well maintained and safe, thanks to the funding they receive and the hard work of The Refuge employees and volunteers. Volunteering for an organization that is so near and dear to my heart and echoes the core of my beliefs really fires me up.

I try hard to make sure I am doing my best to bring good ideas, help where I am able, and put my skills to use. ‘The Friends’ Committee does much more beyond youth education. It also includes several subcommittees that have different purposes. I am on the Advocacy Committee which involves talking to Legislators and asking that they ensure our local Refuge will get the funding it needs to be maintained. Pretty sure I can do that!

I believe when you want to change the world you need to start in your own back yard… Volunteering and making a difference in my direct community is pretty darn cool in my mind. We often forget that politics are not just in our State Capitals or Washington D.C. Politics can happen in our towns, schools and even our parks. Being active in your community is the planting of seeds where the grassroots grow. We forget that politics is just putting our beliefs into action. It’s easy, fun and nothing to be afraid of!

Volunteering in other areas of the community has been an excellent opportunity to see the good in the world. We are all different but that’s what makes us so great! When you put us together for a good cause, great suggestions inspire miraculous action and happenings that truly do bring joy to each other and the community we share. How cool is that?!

I also Volunteer at a local animal rescue when I can. It has been a life changing experience that I enjoy and always has me going back for more!

There is currently about two feet of snow on the ground here in Minnesota with more forecasted on the way. Even though it is very wintery outside, it is time to think Spring! I love to start my summer flowers from seeds, and these must be planted in the winter.

Starting my petunias, echinacea flowers, asters, and other colorful blooms, are important to me, because I care very much about the environment. I want to give the bees, flowers to pollinate, that have not been sprayed with pesticides often found in store-bought flowers.

I also have other plants that I can start right outside in the ground, after the frost clears and I plan to do that in the spring. I’d like to create a whole area of wildflowers native to Minnesota this year. I’ll use a native blend of prairie flower seeds, known to nourish beneficial pollinators, that are imperative to our food supply. Bees and butterflies are not my only reason for starting seeds and growing flower gardens though.

I believe there is a certain amount of optimism and joy that goes into starting seed. It gives me the opportunity to nurture my environment into a space full of color and beauty. I get to be a friend to the environment and enjoy the beneficial blooms all summer long. Planting any seed is a sign and manifestation of your hope for the future!

Planting can also be an investment of beauty and abundance – last year I crafted a pretty and productive flower box for the deck. I planted jalapenos with my petunias, which offered beauty all summer and jalapeno poppers all fall. Plants also test your nurturing skills. How well do you care for your plants and does it correlate with how much attention you give yourself?

A small investment of time can pay off for several years, if you pick a perennial plant. I love to play in the soil, and dig in the earth, to plant my seeds of hope. Sometimes I even bury little notes and prayers under my plants before I put them in the ground. It can’t hurt to give your plant a little encouragement, right?!

During the long Minnesota winter months, I like to take time to tend to house plants also. Feed them, prune them, and transplant if needed. It’s a great time to get my hands in the soil and nurture the plants, that offer clean air, life and beauty to my home.

House plants can also be functional and purposeful, you can grow kitchen herbs like thyme and rosemary, to harvest when cooking or sage for clearing your space. I also like to plant flowers and herbs like echinacea and lemon balm to make my own tea for the winter.

Planting, growing, and nurturing the seedlings of what I want my future to look like, helps me get through cabin fever winter can bring. It’s a purposeful and metaphorical act of hope. A manifestation of the beauty and abundance I want my future to bring.

I am a person who enjoys the simple things in the world, I love tea and flowers! So even, if ‘all I get’ is surrounded by the beauty of flowers and to enjoy homegrown tea; it’s totally worth it to me.

What get’s you through the long winter months? I’d love to hear from you.

Adventure Sister Stacy is an excellent friend. One reason for this is that she lets me know when she thinks I should try and step away from a situation to get a clearer picture. She tells me kindly “You’re in the soup. You can’t see everything from the inside. It’s time to step away and out of the pot, so you can see a bigger perspective.”

I love that she cares enough about me to tell me the truth when I am in a soupy situation.

Like most everyone, I tend to complain and vent to my best friend when life gets frustrating. I share with her because I can trust her to give me feedback from a different point of view. It’s like taste testing a spoonful of soup and asking. “What’s missing? What can I add to make this better?”

They say it is the journey and not the destination that we must find enjoyment in. It’s taken me years to figure out that’s because the journey is the process of planning and doing that almost always takes a much longer amount of your time and effort, before we finally get to our target aspirations. There we end only to start all over again towards another destination.

The journey is life! Life is the journey. I love to cook and that’s why I like to use cooking metaphors to express my messages and share my life lessons. My life is the soup and I am the chef on the journey to making the best, most scrumptious soul-warming soup I possibly can!

When I try to add too much to my soup of life, it becomes unbalanced and not nearly as tasty as a simple chicken soup with few tasty ingredients. That’s because the less ingredients and seasonings I add, the easier it is to experience the simple flavors that we savor.

Isn’t this also true of life? When we add too much to our lives its overwhelming and not as enjoyable as a simple, balanced life full of the people and activities that we enjoy.

Sometimes we think if we add ‘just a little more’, that we will be even happier and our soup of life will be all the better, yet that doesn’t happen. We end up wishing we had not added those things after all. But now they are in there… and you can’t take them out and you are stuck with the flavor, even though it just doesn’t taste right. This is when you are in the soup!

Now you’ve learned though, and you are not going to do that again! It’s still okay to eat this soup and so we do; because we invested our time and effort on the journey to make this soup. We may think we need to add just a little more of this or a pinch of that to make it ‘better’. When really, we just need to enjoy our chef’s journey. Learn to enjoy the feeling of contentment our simply delicious, homemade chicken soup truly brings to our lives.

That the best thing about soup! It can be the same or different every single time, depending on how the chef is feeling that day! I hardly ever make the same soup twice because I don’t like to use recipes. My daughter once said to me, after tasting a delicious homemade concoction. “I am sad because I know, I just had the best soup of my life and I will never taste it again.”

That’s because there was no recipe, same as life, it was handcrafted by the Chef’s spirit that lives inside of me and I don’t even remember what I used. I see our lives as one batch of soup after the other. Sometimes we must try what we don’t like just to figure out what we do.

Sometimes others can see your soupy life better then you can when we’re standing in it. That is why I love my friends and family who love me enough to say to me. “You’re in the soup!”

Maybe if you step back you will see it also. Who knows, you just might be in the best soup of your life right now!!! So savor and enjoy it with all your senses! Remember what ingredients you used and how you balanced those flavors with your attention to detail. (What amount of each Mind/Body/Spirit/Family/Love/Work feels and tastes just right to you?)

Try and remember the amount of attention it took to craft it just right and remember: “You are the chef of your life.” Remind yourself of this whenever you feel unbalanced or overwhelmed, that you can go back to the basics and make your favorite, soul comforting, simple soup. You have the power. You are the Chef of your soupy life.

I used to watch Blossom, it was a television show back in the 90’s… way back when. Anyway, Joey was Blossom’s brother who always said “Whoa!” in a cute and funny way when he learned something that surprises him. Today, I am feeling a tiny bit blown away by the roller derby of feels I have going on after election day. Huge, determined, and powerful emotions, crashing into one another that are nothing alike.

At first, I was totally okay and thankful for the amazing experience to be a Candidate. This experience was a roller coaster of emotions, where all at once, I felt excited, terrified, empowered and heart-warmed. But now that it is over, and I did not win, after a very hard effort and sacrifice of time. I feel thankful, sad, angry, relieved, exhausted, blessed, confused, and just plain “WHOA!!!”

This has been one heckava adventure! I would not trade it for anything. I loved everything about it except how hard it was! Man! I am exhausted. I feel the tired deep down in my soul. Like pouring from an empty cup exhausted. It feels so good and so bad all at the same time. Seriously, I have called myself a walking contradiction before, but these feeling here… take the cake.

I want to be proud of myself for stepping up and taking the chance to be the change I wanted to see. I found out it was much harder than I thought it would be. I want to be proud of my work, but I also have this opposite feeling that I let a LOT of people down. People who I have gotten to know and really enjoy.

This opportunity to see the greatness in my community has changed me to my core. I am beyond a doubt in awe of how Central Minnesotans truly care about each other and our small-town way of life we love. I love how we support one another and even if we may not vote the same way, still manage to get allong. Quite nicely most the time.

I have learned that the people who scream the loudest do the least from the sidelines. I have learned quiet people have a whole lot to say. I found I love to and benefit from listening. This experience was raw, from the heart, listening to the families I share my grocery store and gas station with. The folks I talked to are no different than me, they want us all to get along too.

I saw for myself what I knew all along. We have far more in common than not. I think that our communities do need healing. They need to see that it is possible. Everyone who I met, wants it to be possible and needs it to be possible. We need each other to survive. Not only physically but emotionally and spiritually.

As a small business owner, I know the importance the support of my community means to me. I take my job very seriously and do the best I can every time, every client. Because I want the people I help to come back to me. This is what small business is all about, customer service. People remember the way you made them feel. Just like all folks, I have not been perfect, but I took those experiences as lessons and work to improve myself and the way I leave people feeling every day.

I’ve been feeling a lot of feels, but I had an epiphany of sorts. I wish to take my loss as a redirection of my priorities. Maybe, just maybe, there is a different way to do what I want to do? I have some ideas. I will do some research and see where this takes me. Until then, I choose to be thankful for this attempt to be the change I wish to see.

I will be thankful for each and every soul I came across in my political journey, as well as every experience that made me step outside of my comfort zone. I had been craving adventure and a political campaign offered me just that. I am still determined to experience all the adventure I can, even if it’s right in my backyard.

Do I recommend running for office for everyone? Nope. Do I recommend it to those who want to change their perception of the world? Yep. I think far differently of politicians now. This is not a position set up for those without motivation. You must have the funds, the time, purpose and drive that keeps you working your fool head off.

I will admit, I did and do still have an ulterior motive. I want to protect our water here in Minnesota, it is what makes us so great. It sustains our economy and environment plus our way of life. It is imperative to our future.

Yet, I am only me, there is only so much I can do. The majority of people in my district do not agree with my platform, so there must be another way to be the change I wish to see. I must work on this… I already have a plan. Will I run again? Maybe. But there is time to decide and a lot of life to live between then and now.

Until then, I will work to feel all my emotions that will lead me to more adventures and help define how I live my life. I could choose to be upset that things did not work out how I wished they would. But I trust that this journey was an important part of me getting to where I was meant to be.

Working through my roller derby of eclectic emotions is what the human experience is all about. You feel them, let them pass and acknowledge the ideas that come before and after them. That’s the meaty part. The conclusions and the epiphanies caused by the experience and adventure.

The journey happens in the now. I have been asking for lessons through Joy. I received an abundance of them. I must not allow this one loss to diminish my heart opening experience. It does have a purpose and I still have a purpose.

Stacy’s husband, Marty, has been contributing to our Adventure Sisters’ literary adventures by helping edit our blogs. Stacy and I are writers, not editors, totally different beast. Marty says he’s no editor, just a hack trying to help out (He added this remark! He’s a funny guy too!) We still appreciate his help very much.

I tell you this because he had mentioned that he noticed my use of the phrase “authentically me”. It is one of my favorites along with “Protect what you love”, which I put on my campaign t-shirts. He said we should make an T-shirt that says “authentically me” and I absolutely love the idea. He even worked up some ideas.

I would like to tell you the back story on how I learned to be “authentically me.” It comes from my mother who used to be a little rough around the edges. My mom raised me by herself. Well mostly, she was a single mom who got help looking after me from her parents, siblings and good friends. Friends, who I still think of as family today. She was kind but tough, with a heart was large as Lake Superior, but a bullshit meter with a hair trigger.

Mom would often say what was on her mind in front of anyone. Especially if they deserved it or just plain needed to hear the truth. She has softened somewhat with age, but still has her opinions, as we all do. My mom was fluent in profanity and handed the linguistic skills of a sailor down to her daughter. I used to be annoyed when people would tell me how much I am like my mom, but now I am very proud to hear it.

My mom is a strong woman, who has not had an easy life. She was the oldest of five siblings and was depended on to help raise them. She was a mother hen very early in life. People thought she was bossy. I have come to find out that ‘bossiness’ means she cares. She taught me the value of a good work ethic and loyalty. She taught me that, even if you don’t want to do something, sometimes you just have to anyway. Sometimes, the hardest and the right thing, are the same.

My mom was the perfect example of someone who knows how to love unconditionally. She taught me it is okay to fight. It is okay to get mad. It is okay to hash it out but in the end… we still are family and you are still loved. My mom taught me the value and grace of unconditional love and let me tell you, I tested those limits plenty. I could be a stinker! I was a good girl, when I was younger. I got good grades but I would do rebellious things, just for the thrill of it. I made her worry a lot. I do feel bad for this now.

Mom is an outgoing person most of the time. She taught me the importance of being social and caring for those around you. When it is time for a party, she’s the first one to show up with food and treats and the last one to leave. That’s because she’s the one helping you clean up. Just like most of us, my mom can be hard to like occasionally. She doesn’t pull any punches and I appreciate her frankness. After all, I would rather know the truth about someone’s feelings and beliefs, than some sugar-coated BS. My mom is a straight shooter and I have tried to be the same because I respect that in her.

There were times that I would be mad at my mom in my younger years, for being over protective. Although I can’t blame her, at times I bet it was like trying to tame a wild horse; raising this free spirit! Yet, looking back now that I have been a mom and concerned for my own daughter, I see what made her act in that way.

A mother’s love is fierce, impenetrable and often unable to be expressed in a way that is easy to understand. As with most mother daughter relationships, we’ve had our ups and downs. I now realize the downs were there to help us learn from one another and appreciate who we were becoming.

It’s tough when your relationship changes, because YOU change.

I am not a free spirited ‘know it all’ teenager anymore. I have learned it is hard to let go of the pieces of your baby that you cherish. Sometimes you just want them to stay the same. Life has a way of helping us mature, even while our relationships lag behind. This causes growing pains, but it is for the best. I find that we get along much better now that we can appreciate each other for who we truly are.

Authentically me. Authentically her. I learned from my mom to accept that I am perfectly imperfect. If by chance someone does not appreciate my authentic self… well… that’s okay. Or like Gena (mom) would say “F’ em.” Because I have learned to love and accept myself and that is what matters. I have to live with myself every day. I know who I am inside and out and that others only see a snapshot.

I have learned its okay to make mistakes because the important people in my life, know that I am human, and they love me anyway. I like to give others the same courtesy. I learned that from my mom also and she learned it from her mom. I have learned my family ‘rocks my face off with awesomeness’ and I need to put more time and appreciation in now. I learned that lesson the hard way with losing my grandparents and having things left unsaid.

She taught me to say what you need to say. Trust in your own voice. As Gena says: “This is the only voice I got!” If you know her… you are laughing right now but you know you love her too. I feel blessed that she taught me by example how to speak up for myself, to know my voice and opinion matter as much as anyone else’s.

I am thankful to have been blessed with a mom who loved and supported me through all the growing pains. Never once was she not there for me. Another life lesson not to take for granted! I am so thankful for my mom, husband, daughter, family and friends who love me. The real me; inside and out. Authentically me. I love you guys!

What helps you stay authentically you?

What keeps you grounded in your purpose? Please share your thoughts! I really would love to hear from you.

Change is scary even when it is planned. The unknown of what lies ahead, gives our imagination an opportunity to show us just how creative you can really be. When I am scared but excited, I tend to imagine a beneficial outcome. But when I am just plain scared, the imagined outcome tends to be not so great. I do think that the more energy I put into imagining a ‘good’ result, the more likely it is that I get one.

Do you know why? I do. It is because my thoughts direct my actions. When I am fearful, I tend to make reserved choices and keep myself small, while at the same time being ready to fight at any given moment. I am on edge with myself and the people I encounter in my life when I am fearful. I have realized this is not the energy I wish to share with the world.

Instead I have chosen to look at life as an adventure in which my attitude, my imagination and my state of mind really do manifest the outcome I desire. When I am scared, yet excited about the direction I am headed, I can decide to make the best of the day and choose to bring good energy to my experiences. I can decide with my everyday choices where I direct my energy and what kind of energy I am emitting.

I can choose to be kind and inquisitive when I encounter people or situations unfamiliar to me. I can choose to believe in the good in the world around me. I can choose to know that the path that lies ahead of me is exactly where I am supposed to be. I can choose to do my best through my everyday actions to make the day enjoyable or not…

So, even though I tend to be somewhat resistant to change, I know that nothing is permanent in our lives. We can get comfortable and stuck in our ruts that do not challenge us, which is a nice rest from constantly striving or doing. Yet, when you hear the call of your heart, those ruts can be hard to get out of. It takes a great deal of effort, persistence and determination to get going. Which is a lot of work; gosh darn it! Why can’t change just be easy?

I believe change can be easy when I accept it and let it be the divine guidance it was meant to be. But, no… that’s just not how I roll somedays. Somedays I get upset about the changes forced upon my daily life that may require more effort and energy then I really want to give at that particular time or day. I can be as stubborn as my beloved bulldog Gus about change and I know it. Especially if I had planned to do something and life has different ideas for me.

Stacy and I had been talking about our common goals, that we are trying to accomplish together, yet we do them in our own ways. Publishing our book series is one of our goals, but we also share our life goals together. When I am thinking of making a change to my diet, or my lifestyle, I call my friend Stacy and we talk about it like sisters do. We process outcomes together, we offer support and personal experiences that we think will help each other.

Recently I had told her of a personal goal that I was not sure I would be able to accomplish but I know in my heart would be for the best. She said “Okay! Let’s do this together so we can support each!” this showing of sisterly support made me feel like “Yes. We can do this!” Because we will have each other to talk to, when the test of life and time come around like it always does.

The very next day after this conversation we saw a statement that stated “Resistance to change, is really self-sabotage”

When I think about it, I think it is true. Can you imagine if we all still acted like we did in high school while well into your forties?! I know a few people like this. People who like how it was, people who have learned all they needed to learn (or knew it all at age 18) so they feel they are just fine, thanks. Some folks just choose not to grow or change! We must learn to accept that, but we do not have to do the same.

Although, in my experience, the people who refuse to grow get very uncomfortable watching you grow. And that’s okay. I have decided I will not dim my light because it is shining in their eyes. I have experienced more of what life has to offer by taking risks and allowing myself to grow and change. I would not change any of the challenges of change that life has asked of me. It has made me into who I am today.

You know what? I really like who I am! I love that I have been changed by adventure, challenges, heartbreak, motherhood, friendship, and even my career path that all got me here today. My journey has softened my edges, given me patience and wisdom to know that I always have something to learn. I have learned that my resistance to change is futile and just makes the journey harder on me then it has to be! I have learned that if I want something new in my life I must do and accomplish new things and apply new effort.

So, I agree, resistance to change can be self-sabotage that keeps me from learning the lessons I need to grow. I don’t have to change all at once, I can usually choose to change in my own way, at my own pace. What makes change easier for me is putting my creative imagination to good use by expecting and acting in ways that will foster a favorable outcome. I can choose to make the most of it or go kicking and screaming the whole way. But, purposely putting out good vibes into the direction I am going, seems to make it a more comfortable journey.

Shine your light and vibe on, my adventurous friends! You CAN do this, and you GOT this! I believe in you.

I have always loved learning new things about subjects that I am interested in. I find that it keeps my mind busy from worry or stress, especially if I have my nose in a book or busy reading news online. I have always been curious about the world around me. I figure if I am unable to go out into the world to explore, as much as I’d like, then I can do my best to read about it through other’s experiences.

It never fails, once I read a book about a place that interests me, it only makes me want to visit even more. I want to go see with my own eyes and experience the nature and culture for myself. I have read several books about women who have embarked upon the long solo journeys on the Camino de Santiago trail. I have also read the book “Wild” by Sheryl Strayed who hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. I find I admire women who decided to challenge themselves by “giving themselves” the time and opportunity to find out what they are really made of.

These women were brave in the face of adversity. Hiking trails that were hundreds of miles long with unpredictable weather. Having to be self-reliant when looking for shelter on journeys that lasted months. Can you imagine hiking by yourself in a strange place, 10 to 20 miles a day, carrying all your equipment and needs on your back for three months? It sounds horrifying and exciting all at the same time to me!

The reason I love to read about these journeys, and one day find my perfect hiking adventure for myself, is that everything you learn on these journeys has to do with who you are on the inside. I love that these challenges, these adventures, teach us who we can be and what we are truly capable of. Sometimes you cannot learn what you need from a book or others. Sometimes life has to be lived and experienced for yourself, so you can find out what you are made of and who you really are inside.

I love to push myself to do better and be better in different ways, as much as I love my comfortable life in my warm safe house, I also love excitement. When I tell my friends about my desire to embark on such a journey, they often look at me like I have three heads! They tell my all the reason I should be scared and nuts for even wanting to subject myself to such a challenge! They say it would be dangerous for a woman to go it alone. I think to myself, “Yes, it could be but that is part of the adventure, right?!”

In all honesty, I think I would prefer company on such an adventure. But where does one find someone who would be as adventurous to join me? I won’t sweat those details yet, because it is just not the time for me, right now. It would be quite the undertaking to accept these hiking trail adventures that last for months. Yet, I think it will happen eventually. When the time is right, I will know.

Now I have read several other interesting books from memoirs and spiritual growth to non-fiction, fun reads and historical events. I do love me a great book! Isn’t it funny the things you find that you are interested in or that pull your soul? That say; “Yes, do that. This is for me.” Just by reading someone else’s experiences? I probably would have never known that these types of journeys were even possible, if it weren’t for my curiosity.

My love of reading and researching of what interests me, has accidentally gotten me to my political journey, as if by magic or what I like to call “divine guidance.” Many years ago, I was researching and learning how to live a more holistic, sustainable life, and working to do just that. When I researched the importance of organic foods, I learned a great deal of information about our food system, that surprised and angered me. It made me start my own organic garden and learn more about permaculture, but this was not enough for me.

I realized quickly that to answer this calling of my soul, I had to step up and protest the status quo. I would March Against Monsanto and I would research environmental statistics. Putting pieces of the puzzle together to try and make sense out of our modern way of life that seemed to be making me sick.

It turned out, that to make any change that should be made, to protect my family from chemicals in our drinking water and too many GMO’s in my daughter’s belly. Well… I was going to have to pay more attention to the politics that allowed and supported this way of life. I was never interested in political ambitions, never. As a matter of fact, I kind of despised politicians who continually let me and our environment down. Yet here I am.

It is not ambition or pursuit of success that brought me here, it is passion to do what is in my heart. It is no coincidence that I was led on this path that guided me to fight to protect the Minnesota I know and love for future generations. I see self-interest groups trying to weasel their way into our pristine Minnesota Boundary Waters Canoe Area to poison our water and us. I felt I had to stand up and say something. So here I am. Running for political office because I see this as the only way to protect what I love.

As Ansel Adams says; “It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.”

My love of learning leads me to where I am today. It may not be as ‘fun’ as a journey on the Camino or Pacific Crest Trail, but I know I will learn a great deal and already it has been an adventure. I will be proud of myself for following my heart. Reading and researching keeps me holding on to dreams and planning adventures for my future.

I see, now, how my curiosity has made my life so much better. My love of learning and collecting knowledge asks me to step up and be bold enough to fight for what I want. Knowing I can defend my beliefs, because I have armed myself with the information and facts to do so.

Sometimes, learning is a hands-on experience, that has nothing to do with studying. Life is always sending me lessons through my experiences. It’s up to me to learn the lesson or repeat it until I do. Our paths are funny that way, twisting us around, to re-learn what we thought we already knew but now in a deeper more meaningful way.

Until I get to spend some time getting lost on a trail or some other adventure I find. I figure, while I am here on this path, I might as well enjoy it, while learning all I can!

What do you love most about learning? What is your favorite way to learn or… do you know everything you need to know already?